


curried mistakes

by TellMeYellMe



Series: Ryuji is Everyone's Best Friend (please let him rest) [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Art History, Curry, Cute Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Miscommunication, Romance, Ryuji is Everyone's Best Friend, Teen Romance, morosexuals, well versed in art history morosexuals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26621566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TellMeYellMe/pseuds/TellMeYellMe
Summary: “I have angered Akira.”Ryuji is seconds away from taking a bite out of his curry when Yusuke says this. And because Yusuke is the one to say this, Ryuji’s appetite immediately vanishes as his “best bro friend” spectacles fall from the sky.An artistic spin on a plate of curry raises questions on the state of Yusuke and Akira's relationship. Luckily, Ryuji is there.
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist, Kurusu Akira & Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist & Sakamoto Ryuji
Series: Ryuji is Everyone's Best Friend (please let him rest) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937605
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	curried mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> hello! and welcome to my second persona 5 fic! yay!!! This fic takes place after my other persona 5 fic, 8:16 to 10:36 so akira and yusuke are dating. BUT WAIT, there's trouble in paradise???
> 
> Thank you Art for beta-ing for me! and thank you hetafe and indidere for reading this fic too!!

“I have angered Akira.”

Ryuji is seconds away from taking a bite out of his curry when Yusuke says this. And because Yusuke is the one to say this, Ryuji’s appetite immediately vanishes as his “best bro friend” spectacles fall from the sky. His stomach rumbles in protest but Ryuji placates his body by reminding himself that Le Blanc finally invested money into purchasing a microwave that could be used in situations like these.

However, before Ryuji can even ask how and why Yusuke thinks he “angered” Akira, Futaba lets out a long, annoyed, and very _tired_ sounding sigh. 

“For the last time Inari, you didn’t anger Akira,” she says before spooning another bite of curry into her mouth. “And even if you did, this is the worst lovers quarrel I’ve _ever_ seen. Zero out of ten, would not watch again.” Curry and rice spray from her mouth but Yusuke is too upset ( _distraught?_ ) to even notice. 

“But…. his constitution around me has changed so significantly in the last twenty-four hours, accumulating into this hourly moment,” Yusuke pitifully moans. “And look! He even layered my curry differently than everyone else’s!” He points to the curry which Ryuji hadn't even noticed being remotely different but it did look a little....strange. He couldn't put his finger on it though.

“It tastes the same,” Futaba grumbles. “Just eat it Inari.”

“But the rice is on top of the curry!” Yusuke exclaims. 

Ah, that’s what it is.

“Inari….” Futaba hisses.

“It should go rice, then curry, then condiments!”

“Inari….”

“He has haphazardly scattered the pickled ginger to resemble the fallen blossoms of our love!”

“ _Oh my god Inari shut up!_ ” Futaba finally snaps, throwing her hands up and Ryuji has to dodge the spoon that flings _out_ of her hand. Splatters of curry fly sky high and Ryuji thanks the heavens above that none of it landed on _Sayuri_. “He wasn’t trying to metaphorically break your heart Yusuke! Akira was trying to make the curry look aesthetically artistic or some shit for you!” Futaba tosses her head back, her hair whipping Ryuji across the face, distracting him long enough for her to reach over and grab Ryuji’s own spoon.

“Hey!” Ryuji indignantly, and a second too late, yells. 

“You weren’t eating any way, just grab another one,” Futaba snarkily replies. As if to add insult to injury, she drags the spoon very slowly out of her mouth during her next bite, making extra sure to coat the thing in her saliva. Ryuji, feeling equally childish, sticks his tongue out at her and gets up to grab another utensil.

When he returns Yusuke has moved from sadly looking at his curry to sadly gripping his head in his hands, the aesthetically un-aesthetic curry pushed to the side. Futaba meanwhile is reaching out cheekily trying to steal Ryuji’s meal. She grins under Ryuji’s glare and holds up her hands in a “ _I swear I wasn’t going to totally steal your food_ ” sort of gesture. Ryuji plops back down into his seat and slides his curry back protectively to himself before turning back to the (literally) distressed artist. He claps a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder, breaking him out of his inner turmoil.

“Look dude as, uh, _angered_ as you think Akira is, he’s probably not!” Ryuji says, “Futaba’s right, you’re reading too much into this subliminal food business.” 

“But I’m not!” Yusuke exclaims, brushing Ryuji off and slamming his hands down, “I know what hidden messages in works of art looks like and this is it!” He gestures wildly to the curry, as if it was a ticking time bomb instead of a plate of food.

“Easter eggs hidden in a meal? I don’t think Akira is _that_ hipster,” Futaba says at the same time that Ryuji’s head starts pounding with the familiar feeling of a migraine. 

Yusuke however, hangs his head in sadness, refusing to even entertain the idea that Akira is not mad at him and that their relationship wasn’t going to hell. “This is it,” he bemoans, “the fallen petals lead the way to a winter of heartbreak. I am no longer Akira’s boyfriend.”

“I wouldn’t go that far Yusuke,” Ryuji tries to quickly placate at the same time Futaba pipes up her own “Can I take your designated player two controller then? The one that Akira only lets you use?”

Ryuji glares at her. “Not helping,” he hisses. She once again sticks her tongue out at him.

“Take it,” Yusuke says, as if not even acknowledging the rare item he’s giving up, “as we’re speaking now, Akira’s probably asking that pretty detective boy to uncover the new mysteries of his heart.”

Futaba snorts, “Seriously? You think you’re going to lose your man to someone who takes his briefcase with him to the mall?”

“I could!”

“You won’t!”

“A _hem_ ,” Ryuji forcefully cuts in, “I’m sorry to interrupt this little ‘Akechi might take Akira to the mall’ game,” he glares at Futaba (who shrugs and chooses to instead blatantly steal Ryuji’s curry), “but Yusuke, I know Akira. And believe me he’s crazy about you dude. Last night he kept talking to me about how he wished he knew more art stuff so that you two could have more artsy conversations or something.”

“All the more reason then that he is abandoning me,” Yusuke bemoans, “he’s fallen in love with an artist of the olden days.”

“No Yusuke, that’s not what I meant-”

“It was probably that man Dürer. His talent in woodcutting is one I can never replicate.”

“Yusuke…”

“Because whenever I try to, the wood splinters me in their final defiance of life against the modern man!”

It is at this moment that Akira entered through stage right. Or uh...left? He is technically behind Ryuji when he entered….Well, the point is that Akira reentered, holding a bundle of freshly cleaned laundry, and Ryuji has the pleasure of watching his leader’s face slip from its “neutral” expression to its “oh shit” expression.

Suddenly, there is total silence in La Blanc. So silent that Ryuji can hear Futaba chewing on _his_ food.

Akira and Yusuke look at each other as if they were two long lost lovers, separated by the oceans of time….even though Akira had only been gone for an hour max.

“Ah….Yusuke…” Akira finally says after he and Yusuke had been staring for (in Ryuji’s opinion) a time that would’ve rivaled the first time he had ever run distance (it was not a good time, both literally and figuratively), “I see that you’re still here and eating...the curry.”

Yusuke gulps and, quickly standing up, is half way into a bow when Akira softly, quietly, says-

“Sorry.”

Akira’s face then drops slightly, hiding in the remaining wafting warmth of the laundry and Ryuji can see that the tips of his ears are turning a bright red (contrasting against Akira’s black hair.)

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Akira adds bluntly, his gaze not meeting anyones (especially Yusuke’s), “it was childish of me.”

Yusuke’s mouth then, understandably, drops comically open and Ryuji can only whip his head back and forth between the couple, wondering what the hell is going on. 

Next to him, Futaba lifts her head up from her thievery, her expression as interested as a cat watching a soap opera drama.

“Uh Akira? Dude?” Ryuji says, trying to deescalate the whatever the fuck situation this is, “it couldn’t have been that bad. What you did. I mean, I don’t even know what you did! Right Futaba?”

“Does this have to do with Inari’s curry?” Futaba instead asks, pushing her glasses up so that it catches the glint of the light like an anime villain, “we were discussing that it was more ‘aesthetically different’ than usual.” 

Akira’s breath catches and he groans, his face dropping into the pile of clean clothes he’s holding, as if trying to hide (or suffocate) himself.

“Of course you noticed,” Akira’s muffled voice whines, “I thought I was being subtle.”

“For Skull’s standards? Yes, you were subtle,” Futaba pipes up, “for Inari’s standards? Nope.”

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Ryuji says, “back up! ‘ _You didn’t anger Akira?’ ‘Worst lover’s quarrel?’_ Does any of this ring a bell Futaba? Weren’t _you_ the one who was saying this meant nothing?”

Futaba has the audacity to smirk at him, “That was then,” she says plainly, “now that I’ve seen our leader’s face, I have gathered enough evidence to prove that this is a lover’s quarrel and Akira is the main suspect!”

“This is your idea of an investigation!?”

“It worked didn’t it?”

“You didn’t do anything!”

“I connected the dots.”

“You didn’t connect shit!”

It’s Yusuke this time that clears his throat and that sound causes Akira to peek back up from his detergent smelling camouflage. As usual, Akira’s expression seemingly reveals nothing but Ryuji can recognize the slight twitch of his lips, the stoop of his shoulders, and the darting eyes of someone who just can’t bring themselves to put on a poker face.

Yusuke, the situation now within his grasp of understanding, steps out of the booth that the three have been sitting at and goes to stand across from Akira. Slowly, he drags his gaze up and down their currently not-so-confident leader, in a way that reminds Ryuji of someone looking at an art piece rather than a person.

“The rice was meant to be a centerpiece to take attention away from the curry,” Yusuke says stiffly, “yet it was so central to the center of the piece that it instead _made_ me look away from it.”

Akira slowly nods. “You caught me,” he says, voice low, “I should’ve known better than to try to outsmart an art student. I’m only at encyclopedia level anyway. Should’ve waited till I was an erudite to try this.”

(Ryuji has no idea what an ‘erudite’ is but he can at least grasp that it’s an important rank.)

“Indeed, but if it was anyone else besides you I might have missed it,” Yusuke says, crossing his arms.

“If I give you a gift will you forget this ever happened?” Akira asks and Ryuji can’t help but gape at the fact that Akira is attempting to _bribe_ his own boyfriend. Then again, it’s Akira that is currently in the spotlight so...maybe bribing isn’t that surprising.

“I’d rather we talk about it,” Yusuke answers.

“Like men!” Futaba pipes up.

“Like a _couple_ ,” Yusuke corrects.

Akira’s gaze shifts to Ryuji and there’s a silent communication of “ _please help me out of this remember all those times I fed you curry”_ flashing through Akira’s eyes. 

Ryuji only shakes his head and communicates back, _“No please settle this like a couple it can’t be that bad.”_

Akira’s eyes narrow and Ryuji helpfully and slowly looks away.

“My own teammate,” Akira finally deadpans and Ryuji shrugs towards the ficus. Akira sighs.

“I thought that,” Akira says, “if I implied that I was….” he then mumbles something that Ryuji couldn’t hear, “you would have that idea planted into your subconscious and then it would be...alright.”

Yusuke frowns, “You were what? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”

Akira mumbles again.

“What?” Ryuji asks.

Another mumble.

“Joker we can’t hear you,” Futaba says.

“.....jealous….” Akira finally spits out in a soft voice, “I got jealous.”

In the silence that follows Ryuji is pretty sure he can hear Mona’s soft snoring from upstairs.

“ _You_ got jealous?!” Futaba asks, bouncing in her seat, her eyes wide with excitement, “really!? I thought you had only two emotions! Sleepy and destroying!”

“Destroying isn’t an emotion,” Akira answers, “it’s an action.” His gaze then flits back to Yusuke and he calmly repeats, “I got jealous.”

Yusuke nods understandingly and a feeling of pride arises in Ryuji. It’s nice to know that even though Yusuke has his head in the clouds twenty-four-seven, he at least gets that Akira is going through some crappy emotions right now. Hell, it almost seems that Yusuke was expecting it. Yusuke is kinda attractive so it makes sense that Akira would get jealous if-

“I wasn’t expecting that and I don’t really understand,” Yusuke remarks and Ryuji almost bangs his head against the table. Seriously?! After he was just praising Yusuke, saying how proud he was of him?!

“However,” Yusuke says, “you may continue.”

Continue? What the hell even are these two?!

Akira shuffles the bundle in his hands, tightening and loosening his grip on the laundry as he tries to find his words. “You said...yesterday in Mementos…” he slowly confesses, “that you’d get beef bowls…”

“I did?” Yusuke questions, head tilting slightly as if searching for the memory.

Akira nods. “You said that you would get them with Ryuji….and not me.” 

Oh. _Oh._ That was it then. 

Wait….

“What?!” Ryuji says, “you got jealous of _me?_ ” 

Futaba elbows him hard, “Nice going Skull,” she hisses, “you made Akira mad and sad. You made him _smad._ ”

“Me?!” Ryuji squawks, “I didn’t make Akira _smad_! I didn’t do anything! I’m innocent I swear!”

“He technically didn’t do anything,” Akira says, “I just got jealous because...I felt like I should’ve taken you out for beef bowls Yusuke, as a date...instead of…” his voice trails off and Akira’s gaze shifts away. “Please forgive me for my food crimes,” he deadpans in a way that sounds sarcastic but Ryuji knows is sincere.

“I see,” Yusuke says, “so in order to entice the idea of you being left behind by me, you shaped my curry to express your feelings.”

Akira huffs but nods in silent agreement.

“That….” Yusuke says, “is extremely extraordinary.”

What follows then is Akira’s head snapping back to Yusuke in shock. A quick look of confusion on their leader’s face shifts and Ryuji is confident that whatever expression of fondness Yusuke currently has is all the words Akira needs because suddenly Akira is smiling that smirking smile of his and he’s flinging the clean laundry over Ryuji’s and Futaba’s heads.

“What the-?!” Ryuji gapes as Futaba gasps out, “You got clothes in my curry!”

By the time Ryuji wrestles himself out of the now curry stained clothes, Yusuke and Akira are pulling apart from their kiss and Akira has a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“I promise I won’t do that again,” he says, fixing his glasses.

“You better,” Yusuke answers, “as endearing as that was, I would prefer it if you told me rather than showed me.”

“I’ll leave the artistic interpretations in your hands then my little Fox.”

“Gross!” Futaba says, her messy head popping out between two sleeves, “too much PDA in front of my curry.”

“Remains of _my curry_ you mean,” Ryuji says. He can only shake his head as Akira smiles into Yusuke's neck. “You two didn’t even talk,” he grumbles, helping to lift a now dirty t-shirt off of Futaba.

“He said enough,” Yusuke says.

“I said enough and I think I got the message across very nicely,” Akira agrees.

“Cool,” Ryuji says, “cool cool cool. Don’t know what happened but I’m glad you guys are good now.”

As much as he doesn’t get it, if Akira is smiling again and Yusuke looks less constipated than he did an hour ago, that means something got resolved. And if it makes them happy well…. Ryuji is happy too. 

At least he can rest easy tonight knowing that he wasn’t the cause of a break up.

(Next to him Futaba, the ever present voice of navigation, helpfully snarks that _someone_ will have to do the washing again.)

**Author's Note:**

> AND THATS THE END.......or is it? 
> 
> Im joking, its the end for this fic. maybe not for this....series? is this a series now? idk. if it is, then it is not over. Tbh, i have been working on this since last year (i think a little after i finished my first persona fic!) but things got backed up with school for me. But i felt inspired to finish this fic and im so glad that i did. and now im graduated! looking for a job! and prepared for anything!
> 
> thank you again for betaing art!


End file.
